Creature (25)
Land (23)
Enchantment (3)
Instant (5)
Sorcery (3)
Planeswalker (1)
Sideboard
Sorcery (12)
Enchantment (3)
WITH THE IXALAN ROTATION, I HAVE CHANGED THE DECK TO "CASUAL" AS IT IS NO LONGER STANDARD LEGAL!!!
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If this deck good enough for you to put in a folder, it's good enough for you to please upvote it! Thank you!
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Douglas Adams and his five book trilogy somehow inspires this deck. No, I don't see the connection either. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar seems to be hitching his way across the multiverse, making Allies (and enemies) along the way. Don't panic, though, because there's life to be gained (and drained) in this deck. If only there were a Ford Fairlane for the travel-- it saves so much energy whilst traversing the multiverse, you know.
The aim of this deck is quite clear: get out creatures to help you passively gain life while also passively taking the life of your opponents. All creatures are "Ally" creatures , which means that all come from either Battle for Zendikar (BFZ) or Oath of the Gatewatch (OGW) and have "Ally" in the creature subtype (with the exception of Metallic Mimic from Aether Revolt (AER)). Many of the cards of the deck also come from these two sets as they compliment the ally cards (e.g., March from the Tomb).
HOWEVER, there have been many important cards since the BFZ block that very nicely compliment this deck and make it quite formidable! For example, Always Watching, Metallic Mimic, and Authority of the Consuls (sideboard card) have been fantastic additions.
Cliffhaven Vampire is a bit expensive to cast, but it is a solid 2/4 with a wickedly good ability, so it's definitely worth the casting cost. It's so good that mid- to late-game this card has won me games as I just draw, cast a creature, and do nothing because of all of the synergies with the other cards. With that said, it's also one of the first cards to go when it comes to sideboarding because I normally need to get a card with a lower CMC in when playing against heavy aggro decks. It stays in the deck about 50% of the time, so it is worth keeping it mainboard.
Drana, Liberator of Malakir is amazing, and has largely fallen off of people's radar. She can add amazing firepower to this deck when she shows up. However, because she is a bit of a lightning rod, only 2x to make room for a couple of other cards.
Drana's Emissary is one of the main features of the deck. Passively depleting my opponent's life total and a flier. Very good card.
Expedition Envoy is the quintessential turn 1 card-- a 2/1 for is great.
Kalastria Healer is another banner card for the deck. It has complete synergy with all creatures in the deck, so it allows me to gain life while draining my opponent's life, just for casting creatures (and there are plenty of them in this deck).
Metallic Mimic is one of the new additions to the deck. Declaring this creature as an Ally as it is played facilitates all other cards that work off of the Ally trigger, with the lone exception of trying to bring it back onto the battlefield fromt he graveyard with March from the Tomb. This is pretty much the only flaw. Like Drana, Liberator of Malakir, it is a lightning rod, but its effects can be used the same turn it is cast, so casting Metallic Mimic and following up with another ally gets that other creature a +1/+1 counter, and that's worth it.
Vampire Envoy is just useful. It flies, it's a great defender with 4 toughness, and if you tap it you gain life. Enough said.
Zulaport Cutthroat is just a great card. 1x on the battlefield, is annoying to an opponent. 2x starts getting quite painful for an opponent. 3x is insufferable against any deck. This is generally a cornerstone of Ally decks (with Kalastria Healer), and for good reason.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is arguably the best planeswalker in standard at the moment. He can generate a 2/2 knight ally every turn to trigger Ally abilities of my creatures, or, as I often do, I just sacrifice him for the anthem +1/+1 for all of my creatures until the end of the game. Very powerful. There's only 1 copy, though, because he is not the focus of the deck and is just there for support. I know that he's awesome, but this deck has a different direction.
Anguished Unmaking can remove (at instant speed) components of the copy cat deck, or key elements of other decks currently dominating the meta. Solid card and in a life gain/drain deck, the 3 life isn't too terribly consequential.
Fatal Push is good removal for an amazing casting cost. Enough said.
Grasp of Darkness is amazing (instant speed) removal-- better than Fatal Push when the target has a CMC > 2 and revolt isn't triggered, which isn't that easy to trigger when I need it, to be honest.
March from the Tomb is the card that wins games. The creatures are relatively easy to remove, but this card gets up to 4 (sometimes 5!) of them back onto the battlefield. This card has won me soooo many games...
Always Watching is probably the biggest addition to the deck. Buffing my creatures while giving them vigilance is amazing. Excellent card that is great in a deck where so many creatures lack real power.
Authority of the Consuls is a huge addition to the deck, and might end up mainboard after additional play testing. It's an automatic stop to copy cat decks, it hurts players in the current aggro-heavy meta, and it is just a great card. Probably one of my favorites from Kaladesh.
Collective Brutality in case additional removal is needed, and this versatile card can also act as hand control and life gain/drain. Great card. Best if used against the big decks right now, like copy cat (to get cards out of the opponent's hand), B/G constrictor decks (same as before, as well as battlefield removal), and the mardu vehicles/ballista decks (for the same reasons as the previous two decks).
Collective Effort has definitely flown under the radar. Very good card.
Declaration in Stone is great for the occasional token-generating decks, as wellas decks that put out multiple big creatures. I pretty intensely dislike the fact it gives my opponents clue tokens for removing non-token creatures (and that's why it is a sideboard card), but it is good removal overall.
Fragmentize for destroying artifacts (including artifact creatures) and enchantments. very useful in the current Standard environment.
Ruinous Path takes care of Saheeli Rai, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and other pesky planeswalkers, or buffed up creatures in Winding Constrictor decks. Good card.
This is a good deck that has been upgraded thanks to subsequent sets. It's fun to play, aggravating to opponents, and generally quite good. I'm looking forward to getting this to FNM soon.
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Revision 10 See all
(5 years ago)
| -1 | Eerie Interlude | maybe |
| -1 | Hidden Stockpile | maybe |
| -1 | Westvale Abbey Flip | maybe |
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 8 years |
| Last updated | 5 years |
| Legality | This deck is Casual legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 3 - 0 Mythic Rares 23 - 12 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 3 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.57 |
| Tokens | Clue, Emblem Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Knight Ally 2/2 W |
| Folders | Ally Deck, Others, Rally, Ally Primer, practice, Standard, decks, Interesting Standard Decks, allies, YEEEEEEET |
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